The approved 2010 activity report highlighted that protecting the environment and standing up for citizens’ rights are the major goals of the EP Petitions Committee. MEPs also call for a dedicated web portal to be set up for petitions and for the committee to play a key role in dealing with citizens' initiatives.

Any European Union citizen or resident may, individually or in association with others, submit a petition to the European Parliament on a subject which comes within the European Union's fields of activity and which affects them directly. According to the 2010 activity report, the EP received 1,655 petitions in 2010, a drop of 14% compared to the 1,924 submitted in 2009. 653 petitions (39.5%) were declared inadmissible in 2010. The biggest number of petitions focused on Spain, with Germany in third place followed by Italy, Romania and Poland. Petitions concerning the EU as a whole took second place. Germans remained the most active petitioners by nationality, followed by Spaniards, Italians, Romanians and Poles.

Most of the citizen’s complaints received in 2010 relate to environmental issues. The MEPs call on the Commission to monitor compliance with the European environment rules more strictly at every stage of proceedings, not only when a final ruling has been given. With regard to the second top topic, fundamental rights, MEPs welcomed the Commission’s decision to declare 2013 the ‘European Year of Citizenship’, in order to inform EU citizens of their rights. However, they regret that, despite the large number of petitions concerning the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Commission refuses to take action in this field.

On the European citizens' initiatives, MEPs call for the Petitions Committee to be the one that represents Parliament at public hearings into citizen’s initiatives that have gathered a million signatures. They also stressed that initiatives that have not reached this number within the required deadline should be referred to the Petitions Committee for further discussion. Also, they want a dedicated web portal for petitions, with an interactive template and information on Parliament’s remit as well as links to alternative means of redress at European and national level.